Rat Tailed Maggots eaten by Trout

These were coughed up out of a rainbow trout I recently caught March 8, 2010 A friend of mine recently caught a rainbow trout that coughed these up when he landed the fish. Any idea what they are. They are it a shot glass for sizing scale. anonymous Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Rat Tailed Maggots

Dear anonymous, These Rat Tailed Maggots are the aquatic larvae of the Drone Fly.

2 Responses to Rat Tailed Maggots eaten by Trout

At my place of work, we have been finding these rat-tailed maggots in the toilets, the toiles are on the second floor of the building, could you possibly tell how how they are getting there + why, Mave from Bath, UK

Adults fly, though how the maggots are developing in the toilet bowls is a mystery to us. BugGuide indicates: “The larva of the Drone-Fly feeds on decaying organic material in stagnant water in small ponds, ditches and drains. Such water usually contains little or no oxygen and the larva breathes through the long thin tube that extends from its rear end to the surface of the water and that gives it its common name of ‘rat-tailed maggot’.” Perhaps your coworkers are forgetting to flush for days at a time.